Endemic Agapornis fischeri
Orange face, green body and a fast, chattering flight. The Serengeti’s own lovebird, and a Tanzanian endemic.
Fischer’s Lovebird is endemic to northern Tanzania and most common in the Serengeti, where flocks nest colonially in dead trees and feed in the grass. It is named after the German explorer Gustav Fischer, who collected it in the 1880s.
It overlaps with the Yellow-collared Lovebird in a narrow band, and hybrids occur near Arusha, so identifying a pure bird is part of the fun for serious listers.
Acacia woodland in the central and western Serengeti; around Ndutu.
Guide’s tipLovebirds feed on grass seeds on the ground. Scan the roadside after a flock has flown over.
Sightings are never guaranteed: these are wild animals in wild places. What we can promise is a guide who knows where to look.
Destinations
The parks and reserves where our guides look for it, each with its own best season and safaris.
A volcanic caldera with black rhino, lions and big grassland birds.
Vast plains, the Great Migration and big cats all year round.
Keep exploring
Chersomanes beesleyi
Fewer than a hundred birds left, all on one patch of plain north of Arusha. Nowhere else on earth.
Tauraco hartlaubi
A flash of crimson wings in the forest canopy. Arusha National Park is the easiest place to see one.
Tauraco fischeri
The coastal and Usambara forests’ turaco, with a red crest tipped white. A target bird for every East Usambara trip.
Sagittarius serpentarius
A raptor that hunts on foot, stamping snakes to death in the grass. Unmistakable striding across the plains.
Balearica regulorum
The golden crown, the dance and the bugling call. Endangered, but still a daily sight on the crater floor.
Ardeotis kori
The heaviest flying bird in the world, pacing the plains with its neck puffed up in display.
Phoeniconaias minor
Pink crowds on the soda lakes. Numbers rise and fall with the water, so your guide checks before you go.
Lamprotornis unicolor
Tanzania’s own starling: long-tailed, dusty grey and common around the baobabs of Tarangire.
Tell us your dates and the birds or animals you most want to see. We’ll reply within 24 hours with a route and a full quote.
